


SeasonsStuck: Autumn

by DevilishKurumi



Series: SeasonsStuck [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: F/F, F/M, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-11-21
Updated: 2011-11-26
Packaged: 2017-10-26 09:15:49
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,860
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/281322
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DevilishKurumi/pseuds/DevilishKurumi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>It's Thanksgiving, and for once, everyone's together; takes place a few years after the end of SBURB.  Part I of a four part series, each part taking place during a specific season and all incorporating a specific clothing item popular during the season.  Autumn is for hats.  Pairings will be updated if they change/are added to.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Dave's hat is based off of [this spirit hood](http://seasonsstuck.tumblr.com/post/13107606407/dave-has-a-beautiful-hat-for-fall). Sollux, meanwhile, just has the floppiest hipster hat possible. It's my first time writing Sollux, so please let me know if I screw up anything. Also, obligatory pimping of [SeasonsStuck's Tumblr](http://seasonsstuck.tumblr.com/), because that's a cool thing to do.  
> 

 

           Dave shows up to Sollux's shared townhouse with the most ridiculous hat that the troll has ever seen in his entire life.  It's a monstrosity, looking like someone has skinned a stuffed animal before putting it on top of his head, complete with fluffy black-tipped ears reminiscent of a fox's.  (He wouldn't put it past the human, especially if he'd gotten together with Terezi at the time - he's pretty sure they're going to end up in some quadrant together, with how well they goad each other on into doing the stupidest shit possible.  He's just not sure he wants to guess which one.)

            "You look ridiulouth," Sollux grumbles, taking in the long swatches of fake orange fur that drop from either side of the hat, ending with printed black pawprints on pockets, in which Dave's hands are currently shoved.  He really does look ridiculous, too - he knows that this is some kind of Striderly ironic movement, sort of like post-post-Modernism, or something, but he's never sure if he's supposed to get the joke or not.

            "I'm pretty sure the only person who looks ridiculous here is you," Dave counters, tilting his head so slightly that Sollux almost doesn't catch it - he's talking about Sollux's skinny-legged red pants, complete with bright blue patches over the pockets.  Kanaya will have a fit.  That's sort of why he's doing it, though, because he likes to rile people up a bit.  Dave's rubbed off on him.  "Where the hell did you get those?  Shitty indie hipsters depot?  Shop there with Ampora on your days off, trading tips on how to shimmy your rotund backsides into pants three sizes too small?"

            "Fuck you," Sollux snaps, the retort as brittle and harmless as the leaves Dave's feet are crunching on the stoop.  He waves the other in, turning as he speaks to retreat back to his room.  "Come in, already, Jeguth."

            "Karkles already took off, right?" Dave asks, the door nudging shut behind him as he follows Sollux through the living area, hands firmly planted in his paw-printed pockets.  Sollux shrugs noncommittally, which means that yes, Karkat has already left, John having picked him up at a ridiculously early hour - nine in the morning - to take him over to his house.  Sollux had been asleep for an hour before he'd been woken up by the doorbell, followed by the most irritating recitation of sleep-mangled curses from Karkat as  he'd gotten up, staggered to the door, answered it, slammed it in John's face, then opened it again to haul the sorry bastard in.

            He hates it when John comes over so early, but hey.  What's he going to do.

           "Do you realize how fucking shitty this dinner's going to be?" Dave continues, uninterested in Sollux's silence, "I mean, seriously.  John and Karkat are helping.  It's going to be a fucking disaster.  When we get over there, Rose will have killed the two of them."  He grabs Sollux by the elbow, his deadpan look as vaguely grave as it can get as Sollux turns around.  "Dude.  Don't eat the cranberry sauce.  _It won't be cranberries_."

            Snorting, Sollux shakes his head.  "It'll be fine.  You should be worried about the pie Gamzee promithed to bring."

            "Shit," he hears Dave mutter behind him, and he smirks vaguely at the idea of Dave worrying over Gamzee's possibly newest attempt on his life.  Of course, most of the attempts have been completely fabricated between Dave and Sollux on the occasions that they gossip, making it more of a psychological, single-sided kismesissitude - of course, Sollux won't say that Gamzee isn't holding _some_ grudge against the other, but since Dave and Tavros are friends, it's pretty much a given that Gamzee will play nice to appease his matesprit.  It's only natural to try not to be too much of a dick.

            Once in Sollux's room, Dave crashes onto the bed with all the politeness of a wandering vagrant, leaving Sollux standing there blankly for a moment before remembering why he'd let Dave in, instead of just going with him straightaway.  He digs out a thin zip-up sweater from the bottom of his massive pile of lightly dirtied clothing, flips Dave off before he can make a comment about how ridiculously hipster he looks, ignores an alternate comment about how Kanaya will probably murder him for not matching, and digs around in the shelf above his closet for a hat.

            He sighs when he realizes just how badly this is going to look to Dave before pulling on his blue beanie - the floppy kind, one that Rose had knitted for him.  It's got a red band right where it rests on the back of his head, and honestly he fucking likes it, so fuck Dave if he says anything against it.

            But he doesn't.  All he does is nod and say, "Rose will like that you actually wear it."

            With his hat resting comfortably behind his horns, he turns and gives Dave a look.  "Can we fucking go now?" he snaps, and Dave pushes himself off the bed and starts for the living room.  He pauses, though, once they get to the front door, and gives Sollux a long look through his sunglasses that almost makes the lanky troll shift uncomfortably.  He still has no fucking clue what color eyes Dave has.

            "We could always ditch the party and go get some Burger King instead," he offers.  Making a face, Sollux pushes him to the door.

            "No, fuck that.  I hate B.K. and you fucking know it."  But he appreciates the sentiment, so his shove isn't quite so hard.  Despite appearances, Sollux knows full well that Dave's pretty accommodating when he knows something might make the troll uncomfortable, and nothing makes him more uncomfortable than big parties.  But it's the first time in a year that all the former SBURB players will be in one place, and Sollux can't just ditch it.  Aradia would give him some look over Skype that would make him feel guilty all year.  "It'll be okay.  I can deal for one night.  Bethides, there'll be liquor.  It'll be fine."

            "Fuck right there will be.  It's not a party till Terezi gets plastered enough to start licking anything you hold near her face."  Which is a weird thing to think about, because Terezi's long since gotten her eyesight back, just like Sollux had.

            They climb into Dave's truck, on loan from his brother, and when they pull out of the driveway, Dave turns up his music and drives with one hand on the wheel, the other hanging out the window just a bit.  He's still got his hands in those fucking pockets.  "Are you gonna take your handth out any time thoon, or ith thith going to be your thing tonight?"

            "It's always my thing.  I'm in my spirit animal's skin, man, I gotta act like it.  Show some respect to my culture."

            They hit the highway and drive in silence for some twenty minutes, before Sollux speaks again, reaching up to scratch his head under the headband of his hat.  "Thankth for picking me up, anyway.  I know I'm out of your way."

            Dave shrugs and doesn't say anything.  Sollux has no choice but to wonder about it.  John had moved to Colorado shortly after they'd (re)arrived on Earth, to be closer between Rose and Dave - but it was still a long fucking haul.  After a few months of trying to get out more often, Dave had finally relocated - not to Colorado, of course, but to Albuquerque, as if that was a step up.  He had said it was because he was working on moving to every major city on his way to L.A., but Sollux is pretty sure it's just the best split between his friends and his family.

            But Sollux and Karkat live a good forty minutes northwest of John, and while it's _technically_ not doubling back for Dave - it's still out of his way.  And he has to wonder why.  He could have told Sollux to go with Karkat and John.

            "I mean it," he repeats, almost hesitant, "Thankth.  I hate getting up at the crack of dawn for that bucktoothed fucker."

            "Like you're one to talk about teeth," Dave retorts idly, but he does look over to Sollux and gives him a slight quirk of the lip.  "Don't worry about it, seriously.  I'm just trying to help a brother out."

            The rest of the ride is silent, save for the music, obviously, and the sound of Dave occasionally drumming out rhythms on the steering wheel with his pawed hand.

            The first thing they see when they pull up to John's house is an indecently eclectic mix of transportation - John's shitty white sedan with the Ghostbuster's logo painted on the doors is parked in the driveway, with a blue Vespa next to it.  Gamzee's battered station wagon is parked half-up on the curb, and another truck that Sollux isn't familiar with is taking up a lot of the free parking space, with it's trailer hitched on back.

            "Oh my god, he has a horse trailer," Dave says, sounding almost shocked by the pure shitty horribleness of the idea, and Sollux laughs, throatily.  "Guess we're parking further down the street.  Thanks a lot, ponyfucker."  Dave makes a K-turn in another person's driveway and pulls up on the opposite side of the street, behind some rental hybrid.

            "Don't pith off EQ," Sollux drawls as they climb out of the truck, Dave reaching over to lock Sollux's door behind him.  "He'll punch a hole in the wall and KK will get bitchy again."

            "Let 'em," Dave says, but as they make their way across the street, he reluctantly nods.  "I'll give him time to warm up."

           "Good."  Sollux's eyes catch on the second most noticeable part of John's property, and makes an exasperated noise.  "Fuck, what ith he doing with all the fucking leaveth?  Theriouthly."  It's an appropriate reaction to seeing the gigantic pile of leaves on the yard, so ridiculously large that it's hard to imagine John hasn't just kept piling them up over the month.

            "He's probably going to have us all jump in it or something."

            "I'm not doing that.  There could be fucking bugth living in there."

            Before Dave can respond, the pile rumbles; with a cackle and a flash of teal fabric, Dave is gone, knocked to the ground and straddled by a proud huntress.  The huntress being Terezi, which means, Sollux realizes all too late, that Nepeta is close by.  He barely gets to stagger back a step before the pile erupts with a yowl, Nepeta flinging herself at Sollux and tackling him, knocking the wind out of him as he hits the cold earth.

            "GC may be getting the lion's share of the kill tonight!" Nepeta wails, sounding in-characteristically put out.  "How come you get to have the one with all the meat?  It's no fair!"

            "I staked a claim in this one long ago, AC.  Surely you remember?" Terezi replies, landing sloppy kisses on Dave's cheeks.  Dave grins, lazy.

            "Ladies," he says.  "Don't worry, there's plenty of my rump roast to go around."  Sollux groans and swats at Nepeta, who swats back until he's forced to give up.  "I think you might've broken Sollux's hip with that tackle, though," he adds, and reluctantly, Nepeta gets off of Sollux and even offers him a hand up, which he takes.

            As he picks his hat up from the ground, Terezi lays one last sloppy lick on Dave's neck.  "You're late, Dave," she says, rolling off of him and into the grass; Sollux can see grass stains on her baggy pants and imagines that she and Nepeta have been at this for a while.  Dave gets up without offering the troll a hand, dusting himself off with his pawed hands.

            "Hit nasty traffic on the way in," he says with a vague twinge of an accent in his voice, reaching over to slap Sollux on the back.  "Had to run an errand, anyway.  Have we missed the turkey carving yet?"

            "No," Nepeta purrs, coming up beside him and groping his fluffy fox hat, "I think that's gonna be your job!  I love your hat!  It's pawsitively beaut-yiff-ul!"

            Sollux trails behind as the two girls molest his ride all the way up to the front door, frowning at the way Terezi wraps her arms around Dave's, at the way Nepeta practically manhandles his hair.

            It's going to be a long fucking night.  Sollux can't wait to find the bourbon.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Equius and Nepeta ride down from the ranch to spend Thanksgiving with friends.

Nepeta is a bundle of energy despite the early start that they've decided to take for the day. Equius has barely gotten out of the shower, and already she's prepared breakfast, packed both of their bags for an overnight stay - _just in case!_ she says, though she knows full well how little Equius enjoys the idea of sleeping at another person's home - and she's currently seated at the table, devouring sausages and eggs as she burns a CD for their long drive.

Equius isn't sure he would have gotten as far on this new planet as he has if it weren't for her energy, and when she beams at him, he smiles sincerely in return. "Have you taken care of your chores for the day?" he asks as he takes a sausage from her plate. (It's impossible not to filch from her, considering she took most of the food and put it on her plate, as if trying to provoke him into playing with her somehow.)

"Yep! Serenity was being purrticularly finicky today, but I calmed him down with a warm up, brushed him down and made sure everyone had their blankets on."

"Excellent," he mumbles around his food, nodding to the laptop. "And traffic?"

"All clear! No accidents, no detours, no nothing. We're good to go, just like practically every time we go visit John!"

"It doesn't hurt to be prepared." The last time they were met with excessive traffic, Equius had broken the steering column, leading to another forty minute delay until the tow truck could come get them. He doesn't want to be late this time - both for Nepeta's sake as well as his own. Despite his lack of eagerness, he thinks he may be just as pleased about the get-together as she is, if only because it will make her happy.

They finish eating and Equius takes their bags to the truck parked outside the ranch house that they've come to own, pausing once he's deposited the bags into the bed to look over the stables. One of the humans from the town nearest them is already at work, running one of their horses in the corral, clucking his tongue and performing adequately at the job they've asked him to do. Someone has to watch the farm, so to speak, while they're away. He takes a moment to consider the strange calm simply looking at his and Nepeta's home brings, and doesn't realize how long he's been staring until Nepeta leaps onto his back, throwing her arms around his shoulders.

"C'mon! We're going to be late!"

They don't bother removing the trailer from the back of the truck - he's never sure if he's going to need to give others a lift to their homes or hotels, and since there isn't enough room in the truck, he prefers to keep the trailer in case of emergencies.

"Very well," Equius replies, pausing long enough for her to reach up and drop his hat on his head, the holes at the bend between the brim and crown falling perfectly over his horns. Nepeta's ability to cut holes in hats to fit them for horns is exemplary, though Equius isn't sure if the close-fitting bucket hat she's wearing at the moment suits the method, given that it's decorated with large fabric flowers that press against the side of one of her horns. Still, she enjoys it, and since her old hat is far too tattered for a party such as this, he's not going to insist on her changing.

It takes two hours to get to John's house, and Nepeta entices him to play I Spy for almost a full twenty minutes, until she gets distracted by the Colorado scenery. Equius has no real appreciation for it, but he knows that she misses being able to live in the forest, hunting for her food, and so he lets her sit in silence. Occasionally, he shifts his head forward and back, trying to accommodate for the brim of his hat; worn or not, it still retains its stiffness, and sometimes it bumps against the headrest.

They reach John's house quite early, all things considered; other than a rental car parked across the street and Vriska's scooter parked next to John's car, it seems as though nobody else has yet arrived. Nepeta bounds out of the truck once it's parked, leaving Equius to follow at some distance as she darts for the front door. "Be careful not to trip," he calls, not really expecting her to have trouble but still concerned. He can't help it.

She rings the doorbell twelve times during the time it takes him to reach her, and before the thirteenth the door opens to John's bucktoothed grin, a tall steepled hat with a buckle on it juxtaposed jauntily on his head. It's his traditional pilgrim's hat - or so he says, because Equius has only ever seen it once before, and that was in a picture posted to Vriska's Facebook page. (He's since defriended her, as he hated having to sift through the dozens of updates she posts a day.)

"Hey, you guys made it!" John exclaims, giving an over exaggerated _umph_ as Nepeta nearly tackles him in a hug.

"John!!! Where is everyone? Are we too early?"

"No way! Rose and Kanaya are here, and so is Karkat." He pauses, then adds, "And so are Jade and Feferi, but they're upstairs doing something, I dunno. I think they're trying to call Eridan - he didn't show up in time for their flight, I guess?"

Equius isn't surprised, but he doesn't say anything for the sake of being polite. Instead, he asks, "May I remove my coat?"

"Oh, sure!" John gives him a look that screams, _of course you can, doofus_ , but he doesn't say that. Instead, he gestures for the coat rack by the stairs, and Equius gratefully uses one of the hooks to hang up his light windbreaker - he wears it mostly for show, as humans are generally unaccustomed to someone walking around in cold weather in a tank top. "So, how was the drive?" John continues, and when Equius turns around, he realizes that Nepeta has taken off. Probably to pester Karkat, though Jade and her get along well.

"It was fine. Thank you for asking." He pauses. "Ah. Happy Thanksgiving."

John beams as though Equius has just made him so very proud, and it flusters the large troll a bit. "Yeah! Happy Thanksgiving to you too, buddy!" He pats Equius on the arm, lightly, and nods towards the kitchen. "Dude, come check out our turkey. It is pretty much the sweetest bird."

Equius isn't one for poultry, but he follows anyway, for the sake of something to do. In the kitchen, Kanaya and Rose are working on various sides, and they greet him with twin smiles. He nods in return, and looks to Karkat, who is staring at the turkey-filled oven as though it's a bomb about to go off.

"Seriously, Karkat," John says, "You don't need to count it down yourself. I've got the timer on."

"Well, what the fuck else am I supposed to do?" Karkat snaps in return. "I swear to Jegus, if I'd known you were going to bring me over here at the asscrack of dawn, I would've just gotten a ride with Strider."

"I doubt you would have enjoyed that," Rose replies, and Kanaya tuts, too preoccupied by the orange ingredients in her bowl to concentrate on Karkat's tantrum.

"You could help by finding John's casserole dishes," she says, "We'll need those soon, if we ever intend on making progress with these sides."

Karkat pauses as though that's only just become an option, and then grouses under his breath as he does exactly that. He shoots Equius a look and, in traditional fashion, snaps, "Nice cowboy hat, fuckface."

Remembering that he still has it on his head, Equius quickly removes the hat, trying very hard not to bend the brim between his fingers. "My apologies," he says to them all, "I forgot."

"Not a problem, Equius," Rose replies, "It looks nice. How is the ranch, by the by? Keeping you busy?"

Equius nods, raising a hand to adjust his sunglasses before remembering that touching them would probably break them. "Yes, very. It's a strange season. Many people start looking into equine ownership now, though it ends well for me."

Just then, Nepeta comes sulking into the kitchen, followed by two similarly under-whelmed looking girls. "Eridan's cancelled on us," Jade says, "I guess it's not going to be _all_ of us this year."

"That's a shame," Kanaya says, and to her credit, she sounds as though she means it. Equius, personally, is pleased - he doesn't much care for the sea dweller - or, the former sea dweller, really - and he doesn't like how cozy the highblood tries to get with Nepeta. Or tried at one point, anyway. He does feel bad for Feferi, though; she's not a bad person, altogether, now that he's had time to know her, and she's been trying to rekindle her moirallegiance with the other troll for some time now.

"This is pawful," Nepeta sighs. Karkat rolls his eyes.

"Good fucking riddance," he snaps, "He'd just get drunk and moody on us, anyway."

Nepeta reaches up and adjusts Equius's sunglasses for him, and he smiles at her faintly, before catching the unhappy look in Feferi's eyes as she stares at her phone. He can't help but feel guilty for putting salt in the wounds. Jade pats the seatroll on the shoulder and smiles.

"Hey, c'mon. We'll just have to force-feed him some turkey from the deli on campus when we get back. He's not getting out of this _that_ easily."

Feferi giggles, almost despite herself, and nods. "All right, okay! No more moping."

The doorbell rings and John excuses himself; Equius looks around for a moment longer before asking, "Where is Vriska?"

"Out back," Nepeta replies before anyone can say anything, "I saw her outside the window! I dunno what she's doing, though." Before she has a chance to continue, a high-pitched cackle echoes from the living room, and Nepeta barely blinks before she dashes off, yelling Terezi's name over and over. Equius hesitantly follows, watching the two girls throw each other around in some kind of hug. Behind them, John is talking to Tavros and Gamzee excitedly, holding a pie in his hands.

"Sup, brother," Gamzee calls, and Equius hesitates long enough to make the lanky troll's lazy smile turn downwards slightly before nodding.

"Highblood," he says, before he can correct himself, "I... I mean, Gamzee. Hello." He gives Tavros a nod, watching as the long-horned troll gives the other's hand a squeeze. Gamzee's smile returns to it's previous relaxed state, and internally, Equius breathes a sigh of relief.

"What kind of pie is this?" John asks, coming towards Equius - he moves aside as he passes, followed by Tavros and Gamzee.

"We, uh... couldn't decide," Tavros starts, hesitating momentarily, "Between pumpkin pie and pecan pie, since we, uh, like them equally. So we just... decided to do both."

"Awesome!"

Tavros smiles wide and Gamzee nudges his shoulder. Equius looks to Nepeta, but she and Terezi have absconded out the front door, into the yard piled high with leaves. They yell a greeting, like a preemptive warning, just as he sees Aradia approaching through the front door. He hesitates, runs a hand through his hair and across his forehead to wick away perspiration, remembers his hat and almost puts it on before thinking better of it. Heading to the coat rack to put his hat over his jacket, Equius tries to blend in as much as he can as Aradia enters, humming under her breath.

"Equius," she says, and he turns as though he's been caught in a lie.

"A-Aradia," he replies, and she smiles. He feels his heart tremble.

"I haven't seen you since last year," she says, coming over to wrap her arms around him. He doesn't respond, terrified, and she tuts against his chest. "Oh, come on. You know you're getting better at controlling your strength - give me a hug, already."

Hesitatingly, he wraps his arms around her briefly, putting no pressure on her whatsoever. She laughs and nods, pulling away. "Better. Is everyone here already?"

"Everyone but Sollux and Strider, I believe." He pauses. "And Eridan."

"Oh, he couldn't make it?" She says it as though she already knew. "That's too bad. I'm sure we'll make due, though. Come on, I need to go say hi to everyone - then we can catch up."

He chokes on her words but follows, sweating as she says her hellos and feeling as though he's about to face a firing squad when she comes back to him. "I want to hear all about how the ranch is doing, okay?"

How could he say no? Aradia makes him uncomfortable, but in ways that he would hate to be without, and so he sits with her on the couch and, as they talk, he finds himself relaxing. When she crosses her legs and rests her foot against his knee, lounging into the corner of the couch across from him, he barely even notices. He does, however, wonder what her smile is for.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gamzee needs to get stoned before he can see the people he's killed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Quick advisory warning for recreational drug use, but other than that, no warnings apply. :)

Karkat calls around nine in the morning to make sure Gamzee's awake and getting ready for the drive out to John's house. It's a four hour trip, five if Gamzee drives and three if Terezi takes the wheel, and Gamzee feels so fucking privileged to have such a good motherfucking moirail. Calling him up early even though he's usually asleep until noon after a late night playing video games with Sollux. It's more than Gamzee can bear, sometimes. It feels almost like it's too good, too cloying, tying him up too tight until he feels like his head's about to pop from the pressure.

Tavros is already up and Gamzee can hear him and Terezi talking in the kitchen. He wonders what they're talking about, and why the fuck isn't Tavros just curled up right beside him?

Oh, because Mr. Whiskers is taking his spot.

"Good kitty," he mumbles, throwing his arm out over their shaggy tabby cat and earning a look of irritation and some half-hearted purring. Karkat screams on the other end of the line.

"What did you call me, fuckass?!"

"Nah, bro, not you. Mr. Whiskers is just all up in the petting zone right now. That's all."

"Did you fucking hear a word I just said? Christ. Are you even dressed yet?"

"Sure, bro."

"You're lying."

Gamzee laughs and sits up, grabbing for the first pair of jeans within reach. "You got me. You're a motherfuckin' lie detector, Karbro." He's been filtering through nicknames for Karkat for a long while now, but none of them stick. Karkat makes it mad difficult to pick one, since all of them seem to suck.

"Whatever. Look, just... Get dressed and get your ass out here." Karkat hangs up before Gamzee can reply, and so the gangly troll tosses his phone onto his pillow and grabs around the messy bedroom for the rest of his clothes, gets distracted by the colors splashed across their walls and forgets all about finding shoes until someone opens the door a bit.

"Gamzee?" Tavros asks, "Are... you okay?"

"Sure thing, Tav. How's my baby gettin' on today?" It's hard to resist calling Tavros by petnames when they illicit full face blushes, and thankfully Tavros has never asked him to stop. He's pretty sure he wouldn't be able to.

"I'm fine. Uh, Terezi made..." He pauses, considers, "Karcakes, I guess." He smiles, "They all look like angry Karkats, so."

"Sweet," Gamzee drawls, grabbing one of his necklaces from the playful paws of their cat, throwing it on over his head with practiced ease. "Lemme just get my brush on, and then I'll be all up and ready to get some of that sweet pancake magic."

Tavros closes the door and Gamzee stares at the walls a little longer. It's motherfuckin' beautiful. He loves painting, he loves acrylics and the smell and the way they drip all over the place, and how you can blend them into a million colors that you just can't get nowhere else. And he loves that Tavros lets him do it.

Terezi is a whirlwind in the kitchen, whipping up tasty treats so sick that Gamzee's pretty sure she's some kind of messiah for the breakfast gods. It's always good when she makes the long drive out from Flagstaff, especially since she always comes bearing as many bottles of Faygo as she can pack into her car while leaving room for the rest of their stuff. She's a real fuckin' sweet mamacita, and he appreciates it more than she'll ever know.

"Hey, Gamzee," she sing-songs, and he waves lazily, falling into his chair next to Tavros and scratching the back of his neck. He can feel the pinpricks of sobriety but it's not so bad. Nothing's so bad anymore. He's got Karkat (who calls and frets and worries and) and he's got Tavros (who grounds him and reminds him all at once about the time when), and he's able to stay off slime and stay sane. But the pinpricks are still hard to ignore.

Tavros doesn't like the smell and he doesn't want to hurt Mr. Whiskers none, so pot is pretty much regulated to the occasional joint outside and the more-than-occasional confections, cookies and brownies and shit like that. He's not sure Tavros knows how often he gets high. He's not sure what he'd say if he knew. He doesn't want to find out.

Terezi puts on a show with every karcake she tosses onto their plates, imitating the foul-mouthed little friendleader with every flip, and it's nice. They're delicious - as fuckin' expected, with Terezi's miracle makin' hands - and it doesn't take the three of them long to scarf down more pancakes than most people would want to even look at. Tavros goes to check on the cat's food and water, Terezi throws plates into the sink, and Gamzee pulls a paper bag full of brownies down from the highest shelf and starts munching on one as he starts washing dishes.

"That was motherfuckin' delicious," he drawls, "As fuckin' always, Dragongirl."

"Heyyy, thanks." Terezi pulls herself to sit on the counter, helping to dry the dishes before stacking. It's real fuckin' domestic and it's times like this that Gamzee wonders how anyone can be unhappy in a world like this. "If you don't get in a fight with Dave, I'll make little Davecakes when we get back and you can chew into them with the most rigorous gnashing of teeth." He looks to her, pops the rest of the brownie in his mouth, and she grins. "With cherry filling!"

"You're one motherfuckin' twisted moirail, girl." But he grins because that sounds okay. Sounds fuckin' delicious, to be honest, and now he wants cherry pie. That reminds him - "Where's our sweet-ass miracle pie?"

"In the fridge," Tavros calls from the hallway. It's weird to call things by these fancyass names, but they're so used to it that it's hard to remember how fuckin' strange it is. "I've got our bags - Terezi?"

She hops off the counter and goes to help load their old station wagon, leaving Gamzee to put the dishes away. He stares at the cabinets for a bit, wondering at how everything has a place in their little house, even him, and how they have a car and live next to humans like it's no big thing. Fuckin' amazing, that's what it is.

He rolls up his bag of brownies and goes to grab a beanie, tucking all of his hair into it and setting it behind his horns. Driving with a mess of hair like his is a pain, sometimes, but he's cool with it.

They get out of the house by ten, and spend the ride alternating between folksy music and country, rambling about whatever comes up. Gamzee listens with such rapt attention that he drops below the speed limit more than a few times, but nobody cares, so long as they don't get into an accident, which would harsh all of their fun.

"I'm thinking about moving closer," Terezi says after some two hours, casually, and Gamzee grins slow and wide.

"Yeah?" he asks, "What's the occasion? Ain't nobody gonna complain about it, you know, it's all your life and you better just do what you wanna do."

She pauses. He can see her in the rear-view mirror, the picture of nervous energy, and he knows exactly what's going on up in here before she even says anything.

"Heyyy," he drawls, "Fuckin' amazing. Karbro's gotta be pleased."

"I haven't told him yet," she says, and Tavros makes a curious noise. "Well, I mean, _obviously_ we've _talked_ about it, but still! A girl has to be careful."

"You gave him the necklace, right?" Tavros asks, "I mean, uh. Through the mail? Or when he came out to see you?"

"Oh, yes," she grins and licks her lips and, without a pause, she pulls her turtleneck down and fishes something out from underneath the fabric. "See~? Look!" She holds up the shiniest fuckin' pendant Gamzee's ever seen Terezi own, and immediately knows that they pretty much don't have to talk about it. The cancer symbol sways back and forth, and Tavros adjusts the rearview mirror to get a good look, unable to move his head much with his horns in the way.

"Oh, uh, wow. That's pretty special, Terezi." He smiles wide and Gamzee's heart bursts a little at how happy his matesprit looks at the idea of Karkat and Terezi actually, finally hooking up. Gamzee's pretty stoked himself. Maybe if Karkat has someone else to look after, he won't be so wound up about Gamzee himself. He immediately feels bad for thinking it, but he can't help it. He reaches for the bag between his feet and pulls off a chunk of a brownie.

Tavros sees him do it but doesn't say anything. He just keeps chatting with Terezi about Karkat.

Gamzee doesn't recognize any of the cars outside John's house as they finally reach it, except for John's own and Equius's truck. Something about seeing Equius sends a shudder up Gamzee's spine. He doesn't want to go in, suddenly - he wants to hotbox the car and drive around listening to twangy guitars and maybe hit up a diner for a sandwich, and run away _run away_ -

He shuts off the motor and Terezi and Tavros get out, opening the hatch and pulling the bags out of the back. Tavros comes around to the driver's door and reaches in through the open window, rubbing the back of Gamzee's head through thick hair and a thick beanie.

"It's going to be okay, Gamzee," he murmurs, sounding absolutely sure of himself. "It's not the first time we've seen everyone, right? Everything went well then." Gamzee tilts his head and looks at Tavros, who smiles wide and reassuringly at him. "I promise."

They lock up the car and Tavros grips his hand as they follow Terezi up the walkway to John's front door. John answers after a moment and grins at all three of them, and that's pretty fuckin' reassuring. Terezi laughs at John's strange black hat, some kind of traditional human headpiece, and before John can get more than an excited hello out, Nepeta and Terezi are hugging in some violent kind of roleplay way. Gamzee's not sure about it, but he's cool with it anyway.

"I'm really glad you guys could make it, we just found out that Eridan's not coming, so we're pretty much relying on everyone to pick up some of the group gathering slack!" John's talking almost as quickly as Nepeta, and Gamzee just smiles and nods as Tavros hands over their pie. He can see over the human easily, and Equius is standing there, looking... pretty confused, he guesses.

"Sup, brother," he calls, and Equius hesitates. In that hesitation, Gamzee can see him blue in the face and asphyxiated on the floor. _You really should kneel._

He frowns.

"Highblood," Equius stammers out, correcting himself to, "I... I mean, Gamzee. Hello." Tavros squeezes Gamzee's hand tight and he feels himself grinning again, despite the fact that he doesn't want to grin at all.

 _I said, **kneel.**_

Tavros explains about the pie and how it came to be such a delicious fuckin' concoction. Gamzee follows close, holding tight to his hand and not looking back at Equius.

Karkat is digging through cupboards when they enter the kitchen, and when he sees Gamzee he scowls. "Took you long enough."

"Hey there, best bro."

He can see it in Karkat's eyes - he heard Equius's awkward greeting and probably knows just how Gamzee's feeling. Except not at all. Everything's pretty okay, except for the part of him that thinks about choking Equius out whenever he sees the other troll.

"I'mma go kick some wicked chillout time in the motherfuckin' backyard, if that's cool," he says, half asking John if he can go light up a joint in his backyard. He's still not sure if John knows what he's talking about.

"Sure thing! Nepeta said Vriska's out there, so..."

"No problem. Tav, you gonna be cool?"

"Sure," the wide-horned troll stammers, giving Gamzee a vaguely worried look and a nod. He knows what's up. That's why Tavros is the motherfuckin' best. He knows what's up but he's not going to call Gamzee out, he's gonna let him go get his smoke on. Karkat looks like he wants to say something, but instead he just grunts and turns away.

He slips out the back and sees Vriska sitting on a hand-made swing hanging off a branch of a heavy old tree. "Hey, there, spidergirl," he drawls. He's okay with Vriska, just like he's okay with pretty much everybody, but she's got this thing about Tavros that kind of weirds him out. It's cool, and all, but it's never gonna happen. Tavros is too sweet for black romance.

"Heeeeeeeey, Gamzee," she drawls right back, dragging her shoes in the dirt. "Tavros is inside, isn't he? Why isn't he coming out to say hi? _Rude_."

Gamzee pulls his hat off his head and reaches into it, pulling out a joint. In case of emergencies, take off hat, that kind of thing. She grins knowingly. "Ooooooooh, _now_ I get it. John would be _mortified_ if he knew what you were up to!"

"Aw, shit," he mumbles, taking the joint from his mouth briefly, "You think so? I don't wanna cause no motherfuckin' problems."

"Don't worry about it, I won't say a _word_."

So he lights up and smokes and stares at all the changing leaves. It's like a fuckin' painting, all the colors showing up as the green disappears from around them. Somebody ought to write some fuckin' poetry about that shit.

"Somebody already has," Vriska drawls, and he blinks at her before remembering that she's got those crazy mind powers that can do all sorts of mojo on people. He wonders if she uses it much.

"Has what?"

Gamzee turns to see Rose on the back porch, the faint hint of a smile on her face even as she sees him smoking pot in her friend's backyard. Vriska groans.

"Don't _tell_ me it's time for me to make the stupid stuffing."

"Very well," Rose says, "I won't. And then, when there's no stuffing and you start complaining about it, I'll just remind you that you told me to say nothing about it." Vriska sighs and climbs off the swing, grumbling even as she goes willingly inside. "What has somebody already done, by the way?" Rose asks her as she passes.

"Written a poem about fall, or whatever. Ask Makara, he's the one who's crying over the leaves." The door slams and Rose turns back to Gamzee, standing there momentarily before moving down the steps.

"Hey, sorry about this," he says, waving the joint vaguely.

She waves a hand. "It's not my house, and John would hardly care. I can imagine that these get-togethers might be rather difficult for you." He doesn't respond, just turns to look at the leaves some more. "Dave's here, by the way."

"Motherfucker," he mutters, taking a long puff and holding the smoke in, feeling it burn against his numbing lungs. He'll be cool in a minute.

"He seems to think you might've poisoned the pie you brought," she continues, and he coughs out a laugh. As if he'd do something like that. Dave is Tavros's bro, and besides, then nobody else would get a piece of their wicked concoction. "I suppose, when you offer him a piece, you'll just have to be as positive as you can be about it. I'm sure it won't give him any misgivings."

He grins at her and then nods at the trees. "These trees are gettin' motherfuckin' splendid up in here, huh?"

She's quiet for a moment, but finally responds. "'Every leaf speaks bliss to me, fluttering from the autumn tree.'"

"Shit, that was some fuckin' magic. It's like you knew what I was motherfuckin' thinkin'!" He stares at her with widening eyes, wondering if she's got some kind of magic like Vriska. Reading minds and putting it in better terms than the thinker could ever fuckin' think. That'd be a wicked useful power.

She smiles a little wider now. "Emily Bronte. There have, indeed, been poems written about the changing leaves of fall."

He tries to take another drag, but the end's gone out. He pinches it with his fingers and rolls, before tucking it back into his hat and pulling it over his hair. "Fuckin' magical."

"I agree." With a flutter of her skirt that's practically music, Rose turns. "The turkey still has some time left - you should come inside and catch up. I think Karkat has been yearning to talk with you."

"Yeah, okay," Gamzee says, staring at a leaf as it breaks away from the branch and flutters to the ground like Rose's skirt. She leaves him alone, and after a minute of looking at that little red motherfucker, lying all on the ground, waiting to become mulch and feed all the other plants, he smiles and looks back to the tree.

"'Every leaf speaks bliss to me,'" he repeats, then shakes his head. "Fuck, man." He shoves his hands into his pockets and turns to go inside, pleasantly high on all sorts of natural shit.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rose and Kanaya take cooking into their own hands.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter got completely away from me, but I'm blaming Rose's inability to not be fucking verbose for it. Brief warning for drug use (since this overlaps with the last chapter), but other than that it's pretty chill. :)

Rose returns the canned green beans to the shelf and sighs. She isn't one to judge her friends and their cooking skills, but really, John. It's the first time in a year since they've all gotten together, and to serve anything less than fresh ingredients is ridiculous. There's a budget, admittedly, but the budget is John's and, if Rose wants to go over that, she can very well pay for it out of her own pocket.

Kanaya is reading the list over again with a similar look of disappointment as Rose imagines she has on her face. "Really, I think we can do better than this."

"I agree," Rose says, gesturing for Kanaya to continue pushing the cart. "Luckily, we've come early enough to start preparations for a fresh meal, rather than settling for canned vegetables. Shall we?"

They had flown in from New York two days before the party, taking up one of John's guest rooms in exchange for helping prepare the house for the sixteen people that were to occupy it. Vriska isn't one for shopping, and so the task has fallen to the two of them. Rose doesn't mind, except for the fact that John had put off shopping until _the day of_ , which is an unheard of occurrence in the Lalonde-Maryam household. The store is a madhouse, but thankfully the two of them paint an imposing enough picture to expedite their shopping trip. The only thing they're certain of is that John has quite the fine turkey, which he had hunted down himself. Apparently, it was the idea of green bean casserole, stuffing, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes and gravy that was too much for him. Rose isn't sure if they even have any butter, and so she makes a point to pick that up as well.

They make relatively quick work of gathering their supplies; John is due at Karkat's in an hour, and so they have to

work as fast as possible to return the car in a timely fashion. It's not hard, though they do have to stop at a corner market on the way home to get marshmallows.

"I admit, I'm a bit worried we won't have enough," Kanaya says as they pull down John's street. "Equius and Karkat eat quite a lot, and Tavros will make up for Sollux and Gamzee."

"I'm sure we'll be fine," Rose reassures her, risking a fatal car crash to slide her hand over to grip the troll's. "I hardly expect to come away with leftovers, but we can play soup mistresses over the turkey, at the very least."

Kanaya squeezes her hand and they pull into the driveway in time to see John, blushing, kiss Vriska on the curve of her jaw. He jogs to the car and waves. "You guys got everything?"

"We did," Rose replies, "And then some." The three of them make short work of carrying in the bags, Vriska having disappeared back into the house. Rose isn't particularly surprised that work had her running, though the clandestine kiss that they'd witnessed probably had it's share of the blame. Still, it's a relief when the troll reappears once John has taken off to get Karkat, arms crossed. She plucks up John's pilgrim's hat and places it on her head.

"He wanted to get me one," she grouses, "But look at this. It hardly even _fits_ between my horns. Humans are so speciesist."

"It does look silly," Kanaya agrees, and Vriska tosses the hat back onto the table, following Kanaya and Rose into the kitchen. "We should get started, then. It wouldn't be good to run late with dinner, I think."

"Dave will, most likely, be fashionably late," Rose points out, "So if we take too long, I'm sure we can blame it on having expected him at sometime after seven."

Vriska is staring at them. Rose turns to give her a look, raising an eyebrow in a silent request for her to stop fucking staring and start being useful. "What do you want me to do?" she asks in reply - either to the look, or to the thought in Rose's head. She's not sure if Vriska's claims that it's harder to control her powers post-SBURB hold true, but as far as she knows, the other hasn't done anything too intrusive with them, so she lets it go with a gentle ease.

They split up the dishes between them - Vriska gets the mashed potatoes and stuffing, while Kanaya takes the gravy and sweet potatoes. Rose is left with turkey watch and green beans until John returns with Karkat, who's full of groggy morning spitfire.

"Fuck this, I shouldn't have to be up this early if there's nothing for me to do!" the troll snarls, throwing a minor fit at the idea of being up and at 'em by nine in the morning.

"There is!" John's voice carries after the other. "You can make the cranberry sauce. It's super easy, too," he adds, as if to reassure the other, who looks about right to blow the proverbial gasket.

"Yes," Kanaya adds, a touch of mischief in her voice that makes Rose smile, "All you have to do is pick out stems from the cranberries, boil water and sugar, mix them together and simmer."

John looks flabbergasted. "What about the canned...?"

"No," Rose replies, and that's all they really need to say.

Karkat barely gets around to loudly and unhappily setting up his workplace on the counter by the sink before he pauses, taking out his phone. "Shit, I forgot to call Gamzee. Stupid, _stupid_." He leaves the room, though it doesn't stop them from hearing him yell at his moirail about getting up, and when he screams, "What the fuck did you call me?" Rose risks rolling her eyes.

"Jeeeeeeeeze, Karkat," Vriska scolds when the troll returns, "You make a really _awful_ moirail. Always yelling at Gamzee - it's so rude!"

"Shut your hole," Karkat replies, flipping her off as he goes to rinse the cranberries. "Look," he adds, as though apologizing for his past self, "Gamzee loses track of time sometimes, and even with Tavros there to keep an eye on him, it doesn't mean he won't end up pulling some stupid shit."

"Terezi is with them," Rose says, "I doubt she'd want to be late for a party where Dave _and_ you are both going to be present."

"Two birds with one stone," Kanaya agrees.

"Exactly."

Karkat growls. "Fuck Strider, fuck _Thollux_ , fuck everything about the two of them and their retarded afternoon driving date. It'd be better if they didn't fucking show, and you know what, they're probably not going to. They'll probably abscond to Denny's and run off and get married there. Then they'll have little douchebag-asshole hybrid grubs and live in Puerto fucking Rico for the rest of their lives, until a drug cartel kills them in their sleep for being such _raging douchenozzles_."

"I don't think they want children," Rose smiles.

"What's with the hateboner for Sollux?" Vriska adds, tilting her head. "You're the one who wanted to live with him. He was doing fine on his own."

"You _would_ say that," Karkat snarls, "You love seeing fucked up people fuck up their lives on their own. He needs _someone_ to live with him, and I might already have a moirail but that doesn't mean I can't actually be a decent fucking _friend_ once in a while."

"I think somebody's waxing red for the little lispy hacker!" Vriska's tone is sing-song, and John, looking up from checking the oven, gives Karkat a curious look.

"You _are_ pretty into him, dude," he says.

"No more than I'm into _you_ , fuckass, and I'm not planning on trying to sweep you off your feet and take you to get married in fucking Los Vegas so you can live out your fucked up _Con Air_ dreams."

"I don't think Vriska would be too pleased by that," Kanaya says, and the kitchen as a whole pauses for a moment. She blinks, and looks from the confounded faces of Vriska and John to Rose and Karkat. "Oh. Was I not supposed to say something?"

" _Ugh_ , Maryam, you are such a _snoop_!"

Vriska flounces from the kitchen, leaving her mashed potatoes half-mashed. John immediately takes her place. "Uh, sorry, we just.... Haven't really committed to anything as important as being matesprits or anything yet!" He laughs, awkwardly avoiding Karkat's glare, "We've just been dating..."

"I think you two are good for each other," Kanaya replies, and Rose pauses to look at her. She knows that they're in a similar situation as Vriska and John, just as well as she knows that Kanaya once harbored red feelings for Vriska. It's a little off-putting - in a reassuring sort of way - to hear her give up the other troll so easily, when before, the topic was danced around. When Kanaya looks at her and smiles, Rose realizes that she has a rather goofy look on her face. The worst part is, she doesn't want it to ever go away.

The doorbell rings in time to save her from more embarrassment, but before John can even clear the kitchen, the front door is already opening to two harried looking women. Jade immediately spots John and waves. "Oh my god, you would not _believe_ the traffic at the airport!" she exclaims, and Feferi looks up from her phone, the wide brim of her hat masking her eyes before she pops it back up.

"Hey, guys!" John calls, and Rose puts down her supplies long enough to go over and meet Jade halfway across the living room for a hug. "Man, I can bet it was the most insane traffic ever. It's Thanksgiving, after all. That's why I told you guys you could totally come down earlier."

"Eridan had a late class," Feferi says, and Rose looks over to her.

"Where is he?"

" _Ugh_ ," Jade sighs, motioning for them to go back to the kitchen. "He completely bailed on us. We went to his dorm room and he wasn't there, and then we were going to be late so we texted him to meet us at the airport, but he didn't answer!"

"He's still not answering," Feferi says, her tone a mix of irritation and worry. "He's being so _stubborn_ , I swear! If he would just text me back already, he could get another ticket and be here by... four or five! It's not so hard, jeeze."

"I don't think he's going to answer," Jade tells Feferi, sounding put out about it. "We really should have just made him skip class and come earlier, then he wouldn't have backed out like a total chump!"

Rose isn't surprised that Eridan failed to show, but she doesn't say anything. Instead, she and Kanaya help Karkat with the cranberries. Jade and Feferi go to get their luggage out of their rental car and take it upstairs, and by the time things have settled down again, it's already the early afternoon. The turkey is checked and fixed and meddled with, the potatoes are mashed and the gravy is setting in the fridge, and there's a low rumble coming from the front yard. After a few minutes, the doorbell begins to ring rapidly, and John pumps his fist.

"All right, it's time for the rush of arrivals!" he says, jogging to the front door to let in the new arrivals. As soon as Nepeta hears that Jade and Feferi are upstairs, she's bounding away to go say hello to them as well. Rose wonders if they've gotten a hold of Eridan - by this time, it's too late for him to get a reasonable flight out. It's too bad.

Equius follows John into the kitchen, and Rose sees Kanaya hide a smile behind her hand at his cowboy hat. He cuts quite the figure in it, Rose thinks; it suits him and his lifestyle.

"Seriously, Karkat," John says, and Rose glances to see Karkat staring at the turkey in the oven, his job making cranberry sauce long since finished, " You don’t need to count it down yourself. I’ve got the timer on."

"Well, what the fuck else am I supposed to do?" the troll snaps, "I swear to Jegus, if I'd known you were going to bring me over here at the asscrack of dawn, I would've just gotten a ride with Strider."

Rose imagines how that would have gone - Dave and Sollux leech off of each other enough that their teasing would, no doubt, reach nuclear meltdown proportions. "I doubt you would have enjoyed that," she says.

"You could help by finding John's casserole dishes," Kanaya adds, "We'll need those soon, if we ever intend on making progress with these sides." They've been rather lax with their duties, after all, getting distracted by talking about whatever came to mind. (Most of it, she realizes, was about Karkat and his eternal wait for Gamzee.) Rose smiles as Karkat begrudgingly follows their instructions, and Kanaya gently bumps her hip against her own, a secret sort of laugh between the two of them.

Nepeta, Feferi and Jade join them as Rose asks about the ranch, and confirm Rose's expectations: Eridan will not be coming out for the party after all. "That's a shame," Kanaya says, and Rose knows it's more for Feferi's benefit than anyone's. The look on the troll's face speaks volumes - she's been trying to help Eridan, who was the first to leave to Maine before the other two had even considered it an option. He probably would have gone farther, if he'd had enough money. She thinks the troll would've been happier in his bubble.

It isn't long before the bell rings again, and from the laugh they can hear all the way in the kitchen, it's not hard to tell that it's Terezi, no doubt with Gamzee and Tavros. There's a look on Kanaya's face that Rose can't really appreciate; she knows how conflicted the troll is over Gamzee, over what he did and, to some extent, what he still does.

She doesn't say anything, even when she hears Equius's stammered greeting and sees the look on Karkat's face, like he wants to murder the larger troll for making things awkward. Gamzee's quick to excuse himself out back, and Tavros looks around.

"Everything smells, uh. Really good in here, wow."

"No shit," Karkat grouses, his eyes fixed on the back door as though he wants to chase after Gamzee, but unable to gather up the energy to really do it. "It's fucking food, what do you expect?"

" _Thank you_ , Tavros," Kanaya says, giving Karkat the closest to a dirty look as she can manage to her platonic friend. Rose loves that look.

Not that she'll say anything.

Tavros gets distracted when he sees Aradia and Equius talking, and soon excuses himself to go say hello; Nepeta and Terezi are out in front, roleplaying, and Rose completely loses track of time as they finish making the sides. They're lucky that John happens to have a two-oven kitchen, which seems to be too much for a bachelor like him until Rose realizes that his father no doubt visits often enough to fill the house with cakes and pastries.

Through the open front door, Rose can hear Terezi and Nepeta yelling about something; soon enough, she sees Dave walking in with the two of them on either arm. (Or, one in his hair and the other on his arm. Oh, good grief, what is that monstrosity he's wearing on his head?) Sollux trails behind them, looking forelorn and washed out, especially with all the bright colors he's decided to wear, but she smiles as she realizes he's wearing the hat she made for him.

"You finally made it," John calls, coming over to give Dave a manly hug, effectively dispersing his groupies. "Fashionably late as ever, dude."

"Yeah, well, I had to pick up my boyfriend," Dave drawls in return, and Sollux shoves his shoulder as he passes.

"Fuck you."

"Hey, not until after dinner. Gotta get some carbs in me before we get all rough and tumble." The blond looks at the flushing Equius and grinning Aradia, nodding to them before tilting his head up in Tavros's direction. "Sup, Bullwinkle. Where's Rocky?"

"Uh, I'm not sure who, those people are."

"Gamzee is out back," Rose calls. Dave shoots her a nod of her own, no doubt thinking it to be very cool to greet his sister like that, and Rose decides she might as well go let Gamzee (and Vriska, she supposes) know that everyone is here who is coming. "Dear brother, why don't you come help us by digging the liquor out of the pantry?" she asks, wiping her hands off and moving to the back door. "I'll be back momentarily," she tells Kanaya, who smiles. It might as well be a blown kiss.

"Fuck, yeth, finally," she hears Sollux say as she steps outside; no doubt he's been waiting for the alcohol all afternoon. She doesn't have to wonder what her errant brother sees in him - which is a bit unfortunate, since the troll obviously doesn't see it himself.

Vriska is saying something to Gamzee, and Rose immediately worries that it's something that will irritate the already uncomfortable troll. "Has what?" she asks. The two trolls turn their attention to her, and she's unsurprised to see Gamzee getting stoned in John's backyard. It seems to be his coping mechanism, and so long as he has Tavros around, she won't judge.

"Don't _tell_ me it's time for me to make the stupid stuffing," Vriska groans, and Rose shakes her head.

"Very well, I won’t. And then, when there’s no stuffing and you start complaining about it, I’ll just remind you that you told me to say nothing about it." It seems to be enough incentive to at least get Vriska moving, though she does ask once again, "What has somebody already done, by the way?"

"Written a poem about fall, or whatever. Ask Makara, he's the one who's crying over the leaves." Rose looks to Gamzee as Vriska slams the door behind her; she can hear her teasing Dave already, and imagines that she'll join Sollux in drinking when she returns inside.

Gamzee apologizes for the pot as Rose approaches, but she waves a hand. It's not her place to care, and really, she understands why. She tells him that Dave's arrived and tries her best to influence him to use her brother's fears to his advantage, but he's so enchanted by the falling leaves and the very expression of autumn itself that she doubts he heard her.

“These trees are gettin’ motherfuckin’ splendid up in here, huh?”

Rose looks at the scenery and finds herself agreeing. The golds and reds and oranges have been serving as creative inspiration to Kanaya for quite a while now; they'd taken a drive to Rhode Island to see the leaves, and when they'd returned, Kanaya had designs drawn up and ready to create within a day. She loves the leaves because Kanaya loves them.

She doesn't say that.

Instead, she quotes Emily Bronte - something Dave would flip his proverbial shit over, since he loves to make fun of her for things she enjoys, like poetry - and the look on Gamzee's face is enough to make her smile. He's a beautiful person, somewhere in there, behind the rage and the near-constant drug use. The things that he's done destroyed him once they'd arrived back on Earth, but she can see that he's moving back to whoever he was before, just like Tavros kept telling them when they were hesitant to believe that Gamzee would ever be all right again.

"Fuckin' magical," he sighs, and she smiles at him.

"I agree." She turns to go back inside, adding, "The turkey still has some time left - you should come inside and catch up. I think Karkat has been yearning to talk with you."

She leaves him after that to stare at the leaves and comes back in to find Sollux shouting, "Shots!" between choked down mouthfuls of bourbon. Kanaya looks like she might smack him, and Rose isn't sure if that's because of the drinking that he's encouraging Dave and Terezi to join in, or because he's wearing the most godawful pants in the universe. It's probably the pants.

"Maybe you should slow down," John says after what Rose calculates to be their fourth round, Dave nods.

"Okay, yeah. Captor, grab the bourbon, Terezi, get the glasses. Let's go get ponyboy drunk and see if he can bench press his trailer."

The two follow him with cheers, and Rose sees Karkat staring after them with an inexplicable look on his face. She can't help but think he looks terribly depressed. Or terribly annoyed. They look the same on him.

"Go get druuuuuuuunk, Karkat!" Vriska says, up to her wrists in stuffing, "And pull out your stupid necklace so she can _see_ it, you dumbass! You don't want her thinking you didn't wear it and then think you're just a huuuuuuuuge _jerk_!"

"Fuck you, Serket," Karkat growls, but his hand reaches up to his neck anyway and Rose sees the Libra symbol hanging around his neck. She smiles.

Gamzee comes in, shuffling his feet on the welcome mat; it only takes him one look at Karkat to know what's going on and he immediately throws his arm around the shorter troll.

"Hey, best bro. I heard you were all waitin' around for me and shit! Let's go jam, man."

"You reek," Karkat growls, but when Gamzee grabs at the pendant, he goes still.

"Hey," Gamzee drawls. "She _did_ give it to you. That's so motherfuckin' sweet." He looks round at Kanaya, Vriska and Rose and grins wide, "Isn't it motherfuckin' sweet?"

"It is," Rose says, and she sincerely means it. After all, she knows Kanaya is wearing a necklace lined with roses under her shawl. Trite and mushily romantic, maybe, but it's a gesture Rose appreciates. "Our room is free if you want to have a feelings jam," she adds.

"Fuckin' perfect," Gamzee says, and he drags Karkat straight past the drunken shenanigans already starting to brew. Rose can see Terezi look up from her position on the floor, and just by how her head tilts Rose knows she's watching the two go upstairs.

"It is very sweet," Kanaya says, leaning close. Rose looks to her and reaches out, brushing her hand through Kanaya's hair. "It seems you are just as prone to sappy, romantic gestures as Karkat. How does that make you feel?"

Vriska looks startled when Rose laughs, then rolls her eyes as the human leans in to kiss the corner of her matesprit's eyelid. (Not that they've said that, yet.)

"Shut up and get the marshmallows."


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Karkat hates everything in the universe except Terezi.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wrote this up just so I could post it on time, instead of at 2 AM on Black Friday, which will be impossible since I'm going to be out. :) Uhh, warning for ableist language and a whole lot of swearing, but it's Karkat, so.

Today fucking sucks.

Karkat's running on four hours of sleep and he fucking hates it when John needs him to get up _bright and shitfucking early_ just to come over and stare at other people doing things. It's irritating and he hates feeling useless, almost as much as he hates dealing with working with other people. (Well, that's not true, but he's buried the truth so far into his brain that he'd never know it.) Rose and Kanaya apparently took John's list and threw it out the fucking window, deciding to do things the hard way, and if John asks, Karkat will say they're being fucking stupid, because of course John's list was probably good enough.

(Never mind that Kanaya and Rose know how to cook, while John just throws shit like chili and hot dogs onto the stove and hopes for the best.)

They sic him on the cranberries and he goes through them with a fierce zealousness, each and every stem getting thrown aside as though they'd murdered his best friends - no, wait, shit, as though they'd killed his lusus - no, _fuck_ , shit. Never mind, it doesn't matter what they did, the point is that they're in his fucking way. They're making him concentrate on something other than how he needs to talk to Gamzee about how he's going to talk to Terezi, and then how he's going to talk to Terezi and ask her if, maybe, uh, she wants to move out into his townhouse with him and Sollux and, by the way, would she mind being his matesprit because that would just be _fucking fantastic_.

Vriska's sulking somewhere because of what Kanaya said, like it was a huge secret to begin with, and Karkat rolls his eyes when he hears her boots tromping around above their heads. In John's room. He knows where every room in this awful house is and that's John's room. Seriously, he's surprised nobody else realized they were completely gaga for each other the moment they showed up on Earth. And if they hadn't realized it then, what about when they all got together _last_ time and Vriska wasn't a psychotic bitch, and even refrained from trying to push Tavros down the stairs so he'd have to be handicapped again?

Obviously, they're all fucking retarded.

Jade and Feferi show up and okay, yeah, Karkat likes them actually. Jade's practically his auspistice - he hasn't asked her formally, but that's because who the fuck asks someone to auspisticize between your past and future selves? - and she's surprisingly levelheaded for being such a weirdo. And Feferi... Well, she's putting up with Eridan, pretty much all by herself, and Karkat knows what it's like to have that clingy bastard all over you, so she gets his respect. Speaking of the fishy douchebag, apparently he's not coming, and that's fine by Karkat. He hopes the girls don't manage to get him a late ticket out, because he really, really does not want to deal with Eridan drinking with Sollux (and probably Dave, _douchebags_ ) and then getting all mopey and depressed on them. It's pathetic. Not in a pity sort of way, just a plain, _Jegus you're a jerkoff_ sort of way.

He considers calling Gamzee again, just to make sure he didn't pass out and forget he's coming, but that's really fucking stupid. Tavros and Terezi are with him, he'll be fine. He better bring some weed, though, because he can hear Equius's truck pulling up outside and that pretty much means shit is going to go south.

Equius is wearing a shitty cowboy hat and he snarks about it, then feels like a douchebag when Equius stammers out an apology. Thank Jegus Rose is there to pick up his slack. It's not even that he thinks the hat is that fucking bad, it's just that it's so stupidly stereotypical. Karkat kind of hates hats, anyways.

The doorbell rings and snaps him out of his thoughts, and he forces himself to focus on finding the stupid dishes Kanaya and Rose need. Ugh, John has no sense of organization, it's beyond stupid.

He hears Terezi's loud cackle and jerks upright briefly, looking over his shoulder in alarm because _shit,_ he's not ready to talk to her yet - but she's still at the front door. He can hear Nepeta and her shrieking about something, probably roleplaying, and the door slams so he knows she's gone outside with the cat girl.

Gamzee's raspy voice call, "Sup, brother," but he doesn't hear an answer. Holy shit, who the fuck isn't answering Gamzee? He's just being fucking friendly -

"Highblood," Equius's baritone echoes, followed by, "I... I mean, Gamzee. Hello."

That stupid horse loving fucktard. He can hear something about pie and then John is leading Tavros and Gamzee into the kitchen, Gamzee's expression pleasant and blank but Karkat _knows_ that he's upset. He hates it that people remember what he did. He hates it that they bring it up to Gamzee in whatever small ways they can. It's the worst thing a person can do to his moirail and he wants to strangle Equius all over again.

Gamzee excuses himself out the back and Karkat snarls under his breath. He knows it's good for Gamzee to go out and have a smoke and cool down, but... shit. He wants to talk to him. Needs to, even. But at least Terezi is outside, so he won't run into her until he needs to.

Until, of course, fucking douchebags one and two show up. Sollux is pushing Dave along, talking about, "Fuck, _yeth_ ," liquor or some shit, fucking drinking shenanigans underway before the bourbon is even pulled out, and Terezi is licking Dave in ways that makes Karkat want to punch the fucker so hard he shits his own teeth. He could probably do it, too.

They get the liquor and start doing shots, the three of them acting like there's a ten second limit to how long the alcohol can be out. Karkat wants to say, "Hey, Terezi," but it chokes in his throat and so he just growls and sulks in the corner by the cabinets.

"Maybe you should slow down," John says.

"Okay, yeah. Captor, grab the bourbon, Terezi, get the glasses. Let's go get ponyboy drunk and see if he can bench press his trailer."

Karkat kind of wants to see that, but more than that, he wants to see Terezi. But before he can say anything, they're shuffling into the living room, leaving him standing there staring after them. Terezi hasn't even fucking said hello. She just tittered and waved at him. Fuck. _Fuck!_

"Go get druuuuuuuunk, Karkat!" Vriska says, and he looks at her, realizing he's been staring like a retard. "And pull out your stupid necklace so she can _see_ it, you dumbass! You don't want her thinking you didn't wear it and then think you're just a huuuuuuuuge _jerk_!"

"Fuck you, Serket," he growls, but his hand is already going to the cord dangling around his neck. He hasn't taken off that stupid pendant since he got in the mail three weeks ago. He'd sent Terezi a pendant of his own sign in return, with cheap fake diamonds because he knows she likes shiny things.

Gamzee comes in before Karkat can say anything more, and when he wraps an arm around his shoulders, he can smell the weed on the other's shirt. "Hey, best bro. I heard you were all waitin' around for me and shit! Let's go jam, man."

"You reek," Karkat points out, as if that has anything to do with the situation. Gamzee grabs at the pendant and makes some fucking cooing noises over it, and he can hear Rose agree, even offer up her room for them to talk in. Fucking _finally_.

Gamzee half-leads him up the stairs, and Karkat can't help but look back at Terezi. She catches his eye, then starts cackling as Aradia gets Equius to drink by holding the glass up to him. Fucking perfect. God, they'd make a really good couple. He knows they balance each other in all the right ways, right down to the blood. It makes him a little sick.

"So, brother, saw that necklace you got Terezi," Gamzee drawls as they get to the room, and Karkat immediately flops onto the immaculately made bed and tries to suffocate himself with a pillow.

"Fuck, is she like, waving it around, trying to show off how much of a huge moron I am or something?"

Gamzee sounds sincerely confused. "What? Nah, man. She's got it on, tucked real close to her heart and shit. She fuckin' digs it, bro." He can feel Gamzee sit on the bed next to him, feel his hand on his back, and he makes an embarrassing little trilling noise of despair. "Heyyy, bro. C'mon. Let's fuckin' get all up in our feelings. Lemme hear what's got you so down."

"I'm not _down_ ," Karkat grumbles, twisting his head to look at Gamzee, who's staring at the far wall. He's concentrating on what Karkat's saying, though, he knows that. "I'm fucking... I don't know. Nevermind."

"Nah, man, c'mon. Talk. I always get your ears up in my business, spillin' out all my deep secrets, and I'd be a motherfuckin' terrible moirail if I didn't let you spill out too." Something about Gamzee thinking he's a terrible moirail makes Karkat shudder.

"No, you're not - you're fine. I'm the one who's fucking shitty. I can't even talk about how I want to... I don't know, spend all my time writing fucking lovey-dovey pity notes to Terezi, or have her move in with me, because I keep thinking about stupid fucking Equius acting like a huge douchenozzle back down there."

"No worries," Gamzee says, and he sounds sober for a minute. Not the terrifying, gonna-paint-the-walls-with-your-blood sort of sober, but the rational kind. The kind that means he's still fucking aware of what's going on. "Equius and I've got bad blood, man. I gotta do more than send him and Nepeta artwork and get my feelings on in acrylics, y'know? I fuckin' did some terrible shit, they can be upset all they want. Nobody's feelings are worthless, and whatnot."

"Do you really believe that?" Karkat asks, meaning it. Gamzee's hand continues rubbing comforting circles on his back.

"Sure, bro. Doesn't mean I'm not all kinds of torn up about it, but I gotta live and let live. Besides, I got you and Tav on my side. I don't need nobody else."

Karkat laughs because it makes him feel so fucking relieved to hear that. It doesn't matter if it's not necessarily true, or if he can't always think that way, or if he sometimes calls Karkat up at three in the morning because he rolled over and thought Tavros was missing his head. Gamzee tries to believe it and fuck, he should try too, sometime.

"Fuck, man," Karkat sighs, rolling over, sitting up and throwing an arm around Gamzee's neck. "Just tell me if Terezi isn't fucking pissed at me or trying to make a huge fool out of me in front of Strider because she wants to bone him."

Gamzee growls a little, a low, rumbling sound of protectiveness. "No fuckin' way, man. You're cool. Go down there and say hi, bro, have a couple drinks and chill with them. Maybe after dinner we can all chillax and watch some human romcoms or somethin', shit, that'd be the fuckin' best. All those good vibes and happily ever afters, man."

Karkat shoves Gamzee away before hugging him one last time, a one-armed attempt to be affectionate, and earns a nuzzle into his hair for his efforts. "Fucking whatever, who cares. John will probably want to watch _Con Air_ again."

"Is that the one with the bunny? I fuckin' love that one."

They've seen it fifteen times over the past few years and Gamzee still isn't sure which one it is. Karkat rolls his eyes at that and, after a minute or two of just sitting there with Gamzee's nose in his hair, muttering about how weird he smells with coconut shampoo in his hair because fuck, man, how did humans come up with this shit, they finally get up. Karkat's nowhere near ready to ask Terezi, hey, wanna move in with me and be my matesprit and blah blah blah - but that's what the alcohol will be for, he guesses.

They come downstairs and the television is on; it's some human-Alternian hybrid of a children's show about Thanksgiving, something made to explain the holiday to children of both species, and when they settle down on the couch, Gamzee between him and Tavros, Dave turns from his spot on the floor next to Terezi and hands Karkat two cups. It's kind of hilarious how Dave tries to not aggravate Gamzee all the time, just when he knows it's okay to do it. It's actually kind of nice of him, raging bag of dicks that he is the rest of the time. Sollux is already on his way to being drunk, and Karkat notices Dave pouring him water instead of bourbon. Sollux doesn't notice.

Every so often, Sollux or Dave calls out, "Shot!" and they all fall into the swing of taking some kind of drink - Equius sips at a shot glass, while Gamzee and Aradia take the liquor back with an ease that speaks of just how used to this they are. Gamzee's probably just really high, but Aradia is in college, and Karkat's learned a lot about that from movies. Karkat himself doesn't drink, just like Tavros, and they share looks every time Gamzee throws back a shot.

"Karkat~," Terezi drawls, and Karkat turns from looking at Tavros to see her bright red glasses so close to his face he might as well be wearing them. He splutters, spilling bourbon on his pants, swears, and snaps.

" _What_?"

"Karkat," she says again, and he can hear the lilting tone that she only uses when she's being serious or drunk. Probably both, this time. "You're not drinking."

"You fucking caught me," he sighs. She pulls the shotglass away from him, considers it for a moment, and then grins wide, sharp white teeth close enough to lick. Fuck, he pities her so much. He practically pities her so much he loves her.

"Here, let me help!" She's holding the glass to his lips, and he can see her licking the backside of her teeth like she wants to lean in and lick _him_ , and he willingly lets her tip the bourbon into his mouth.

Sollux is catcalling, and Karkat flips him off. Before he can say anything scathing, he sees Dave handing back a bottle without looking, Terezi filling up his shotglass again, and then the fucker says, "Shot," in that annoying deadpan. Terezi takes her own and holds the glass back up to Karkat's lips.

"You heard the shot master."

So he takes another one, flushing red in every way and feeling Gamzee squeeze his knee with one long, gangly hand, and he chokes back the urge to shout at everyone about how much he wants Terezi to come spend the night and stay forever.

He notices Dave's texting someone and says, "What the fuck are you doing?" Because whatever he's doing, it's bringing a quirk to his mouth that might as well be a smile.

"Nothing, bro, don't worry about it." He tucks his phone away and Sollux calls for shots again, getting bourbon instead of water thanks to Aradia.

Jade and Nepeta come bounding in, and Karkat sees Jade tucking her phone away. What the fuck were they telling each other?

Dave stands up, solemnly, and they all look to him like he really is the shot master, and if he goes, nobody will get to drink ever again. "Sorry, bro," he says, looking down at Sollux. The troll stares at him blankly for a moment, then turns into a caterwauling fucking mess when Dave lifts him up, bridal-style.

"What the fuck are you doing?!" he shrieks, "Put me down, you raging athhole!"

Dave flashsteps slow enough for everyone to see him make a beeline for the door, and before he knows it, Karkat is jostled by everyone standing up. Terezi hauls him with her, hand in his, and he doesn't care where they go so long as she holds on. Fuck those sappy romcoms.

They get outside in time for Dave to swing on Jade's gleeful count of "three!" and Sollux goes flying into the pile of leaves John's been raking up for the past month. Sollux is spitting, he's so pissed off, and Karkat hears himself laughing, legitimately cracking the fuck up. Terezi's cackling beside him and he glances to see her pulling her necklace out from under her turtleneck, the fake diamonds sparkling in the late afternoon glow.

Nepeta leaps into the pile, and Terezi follows suite, dragging Karkat in despite his shouts about not fucking wanting to. It's not long before Jade joins them, grabbing the flailing Sollux as he nearly stands and running her fingers along his sides, bringing him back down in a trembling, giggling mess. Dave stands there like he's kind of fucking leaf mountain.

"Awesome," he drawls, and turns away.

"Oh no you don't!" Jade shrieks, and then Equius is standing there, looking stoic and displeased. Aradia stands behind him, lips curled mischievously.

"Sorry," he says, "Bro." Then Dave is flying into the pile, landing on top of Sollux and earning new shrieks from the gangly motherfucker. Karkat howls with laughter, Terezi hugs onto him as she cries from laughing so hard, and then Gamzee's there, arms wrapped around his neck and chortling in his raspy voice.

"Son of a bitch," he hears Gamzee giggle.

"Get the fuck off me! Oh my god, I'm gonna die, you're crushing me!" Sollux is screaming, but nobody gives a shit, Dave joining Jade in tickling the fucking shit out of Sollux, frowning like he's not getting a kick out of it.

"Oh my god," he hears John say.

" _Dogpile_!" Vriska shrieks, and then she and her incredibly-not-secret boyfriend leap in.

"For heaven's sake," Rose calls. "The turkey is ready to be pulled out, John. Where are your oven mitts?"

John shouts out locations rapidfire and Rose disappears. Karkat's stomach growls and Terezi snickers. "Okay, fearless leader," she says.

"Let's go get our eat on," Gamzee says, and although it takes them almost five minutes to get out of the pile, they do eventually emerge. Jade and Nepeta follow, and when Karkat looks back over their shoulders and past Equius's wide frame, he can see Dave and Sollux lying in the pile, out of breath and all of their coolkid personae completely fucking dismantled.

He doesn't like the look on Sollux's face but he can't say anything about it. John tells Dave that he's got to carve the turkey, and the two of them are climbing out when Karkat loses sight of them. They come in, Sollux picking pieces of mulch out of his ugly fucking hat and Dave looking strangely unruffled in his own ridiculous hat, as though this is normal shit for him. Rose and Kanaya have the table set - and by table, Karkat really means every-fucking-place-available-to-sit. The coffee table, the dining table, even a shitty kid's table that John kept from his life as a baby; there's barely enough room for all of them, but it'll work so long as there's enough food.

They find their spots - Terezi drags Karkat to sit at the kid-sized table, which inevitably brings Tavros and Gamzee with them, despite the fact that the two of them are too big to really sit comfortably at the thing - while the others arrange themselves as best they can. Kanaya, Rose, Feferi and Jade sit at the coffee table, leaving the table for the others. Dave stands over the bird. "Anyone want to say something?" Jade asks.

"I'm glad everyone could make it!" John exclaims, before Dave can veto the speech part of the evening, "Seriously, it's awesome to see everyone in one place. And thanks go to Kanaya and Rose for getting all this food ready!"

"It's nice to, uh, be with your friends for big parties like this," Tavros adds, "So, uh, that's good, right?"

"I'm so hungry I could eat a horse," Aradia says, then blushes and looks across the table at Equius. "Not literally, of course."

"I want Captor to move in with me," Dave says, and Karkat almost starts screaming.

"...What, really?" Sollux asks. When Dave shrugs, he laughs, nervously. "Fuck you, dude."

"If that's what it takes," Dave drawls, and he adds, "Oh, and Terezi, do me the honor of becoming my mo-railie, all right?"

"It's moirail, asshole!" Karkat screeches, but Terezi puts her hand on his face and he stops.

"Obviously, that's already happened!" she crows, and he nods.

"Cool."

Vriska looks at John and he flushes red, and Karkat can see him grab her hand under the table. She pulls them up to rest on the tabletop, and nobody says a damned thing, which is because it was _fucking obvious_. Karkat fucking knew it was coming.

He just hadn't expected the rest.

 _Fucking Strider._

\--

They get home at four in the morning, after a game of Uno that nearly developed into a massacre and Gamzee offering everyone a slice of pie with a creepily wide grin. Sollux pretends to rant about how obvious it is that Gamzee was trying to poison Dave, and Dave pretends to believe him. Karkat only catches snippets, because he's tired as shit and Terezi is sleeping sloppily on his shoulder. It hadn't taken much for Terezi to organize to come back with Karkat; Gamzee and Tavros lived in the general direction that Dave did, and so he'd offered to take her there like a fucking gentleman. Karkat hates it.

Terezi's barely coherent enough to make it out of the truck, but the cold night air wakes her up enough for her to follow Sollux into the townhouse, yawning and making noises that makes Karkat want to never let go. But he has to, because he has more important things to do.

Like grab Dave by the elbow and twist him around to face him as the other two disappear into the house.

"What," Dave says.

"Fuck you, Strider. Fuck you and you're stupid fucking family-ruining ironic bullshit speeches, and fuck you for bringing Terezi and Sollux into it. I don't want to see you again after tonight, you bastard."

"Hold up," Dave says, and for once he looks honestly confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You know exactly what I'm fucking talking about! It's like in every single fucking movie that John probably made you watch too, where some asshole has to ruin a dinner by saying something that fucking shocks and freaks everyone out."

Dave stares at him through his sunglasses - fuck knows how he drives with those things at night - and then, carefully, he shakes his head. "I was being serious. Seemed like a good time to say shit that was on my mind." Karkat can't even think of the words to say, so Dave continues. "Terezi's my fuckin' soulmate, platonically speaking, so yeah, it makes sense that I'd want to fill her weird ass quadrant like that. And I want to see Captor more. Easiest way to do that is to have him live with me. Besides, it might get crowded in this place when you and Terezi start making sloppy grub babies together."

Karkat socks him as hard as he can and bristles. "I don't want you coming fucking near Sollux. You have no idea what he's like half of the time and I'm not going to let you ruin his fucking life by dragging him somewhere he's not familiar with and then being fucking stupid and ironic at him until he flips out. Terezi can do what she wants, but stay the fuck away from Sollux."

Dave's clutching his arm, his expression stoic once again, and when Karkat refuses to look away, he does. He turns and looks at the townhouse, then makes a noise and says. "Hey, Karkat."

" _What_ , asswipe?!"

"Fuck you." Karkat has no time to duck away from the punch Dave delivers, and he lands on his ass in the driveway, feeling blood dripping out of his nose. "I can do whatever I want, just like Terezi and just like Sollux. So back the fuck off."

Dave turns and stalks into the townhouse, and Karkat stares at the door for a while. When he looks up, he can see Dave and Sollux's silhouettes in Sollux's room - they're being perfectly platonic, and that pisses Karkat off. But the worst part is that Dave fucking Strider has been wearing that shitty hat this whole fucking time, and gave him a bloody nose _while his hand was still tucked in the pocket of fur._

Fucking. Strider.


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eridan lives in a bubble.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final part of SeasonsStuck: Autumn! I hope you guys enjoyed reading, and keep an eye out for Seasonsstuck: Winter, because that'll be starting in the next week or two. It'll also be a lot longer than Autumn, covering Christmas/Hanukkah, New Years and I do believe there are some birthdays in there, too. :)  
> For up to date stuff, feel free to follow [SeasonsStuck on Tumblr](http://seasonsstuck.tumblr.com/). Hope you had the best Thanksgiving ever, and I'll see you in a little bit with sweaters, more ridiculous hats, and the romantic dramas.

Eridan is thankful to be alone.

He spends all of Thanksgiving in the darkroom of the art building, using his personal key and locking himself in so that nobody but professors might get in. Not that there are any on campus right now - it's a holiday, and he's one of the few students still on campus. Even those who weren't able to go home for the holidays have banded together and gone to restaurants, or are using the dorm's communal kitchen and might as well be on another planet altogether, as far as Eridan's concerned.

His phone blows up with texts and missed calls but he misses most of them because it's on silent; even if it hadn't been, he never would have heard it with his headphones on and his music blasting in his ears. He's got pictures to develop, and he doesn't want to be near anyone; he just wants to watch dying plants and fresh snowfall bloom across the film and think _how can I use this?_

He checks his phone only when he thinks it's too late to be convinced to fly to Colorado last minute and types out half-hearted apologies to Fef, then to Jade, and throws the phone to the side so it won't bother him for the rest of the night.

Later, he sits in his room and listens to more music on his computer as he puts the pictures into words for some writing project that he's supposed to finish by the time Monday comes around. He shuffles past Dashboard Confessionals and Simple Plan and he remembers the last time anyone looked at his music library. They made fun of him for not having anything that wasn't depressing or from before 2005, but fuck them. He likes what he likes and he can't help if nothing else works. Besides, he has the widest fucking array of music that they don't even look at.

He sleeps at three in the morning and doesn't wake up until nearly six in the evening. He doesn't question the lack of people on campus, he doesn't think about how Fef and Jade are coming back on Saturday and how they're going to yell at him and hate him, hate him more than anyone and more platonically than he could ever imagine.

He spends the next seven hours in the dark room and doesn't develop a single picture. He goes back to his dorm room with an empty portfolio and sleeps until noon.

Five PM rolls around and there's a knock at his door. He stares at the unfinished thought on his computer and considers pretending he's not home, but it's time to face the music. He knows they're going to be so fucking upset at him but this is what he wanted, isn't it? So they'd leave him alone and so he could disappear after the end of school and never show up at any SBURB function ever again.

He opens his door and Jade is standing there in a black dress with all sorts of leaves dancing across it, bright yellow stockings and a bright yellow hat, and when he looks around he doesn't see Fef.

"She's dropping off her bag," Jade says, and she pushes her way into his room despite his attempts at protests. "Oh, wow! Eridan, did you take these?"

He darts to his desk to try and cover up the pictures from Thursday, muttering out excuses. "They're just snapshots, I was fuckin' bored when I took 'em, fuck."

Fef shows up in her floppy hat and maroon jeans with a shirt like the ocean, and he sees her nod to Jade just before the human grabs him by the arm. She drags him and he staggers, and he can't help but wonder where the _yelling_ is. Where's the fallout, the demands that he choose whether or not he wants to be part of this fuckin' family, the choice he's already made up in his head falling from his lips before he can stop it?

They barely say more than a word all the way to the diner a block or so away from campus; they giggle and share looks that mean they have so much to say, but they don't want to say it here, and Eridan feels so fuckin' adrift he's not sure he'll ever see land again. With all the snow on the ground, it's almost literal, and he suddenly regrets wearing cloth sneakers instead of his boots.

"We need three turkey dinners with cranberry sauce, STAT!" Jade calls as they walk into the diner, earning looks from the patrons but not caring. A waitress takes them to a table even as she writes down the order, shaking her head when Jade and Feferi force Eridan to sit on the same side as them, all three crammed into one side of the booth.

"What the fuck is goin' on?" he finally, _finally_ manages to say.

"You missed Thanksgiving dinner, so we're making up for it," Fef replies, looking confused. "What do you think is going on?"

"I don't know," he says, and he must sound as lost as he feels because the two of them bump their knees into his.

"What, did you think we were going to be mad?" Jade asks, grinning wide with bright, blunt teeth that Eridan wishes he didn't think were cute.

"Well... Yeah."

"Don't be silly," Fef says. "We were disappointed but we're not mad at you. You're your own person, Eridan." She looks at him with so much affection that he can't hold her gaze. "If you didn't want to come, you weren't going to. Sure, you missed really good food-"

"Rose and Kanaya made everything from scratch," Jade adds.

"-And sure, you missed Equius tearing three decks of Uno cards in half so the game wouldn't end in bloodshed, or Vriska and John _finally_ telling people they're dating, but it's not like you missed something super important."

"Well," Jade says, "It was important, but nothing we can't do here, just the three of us!"

He's at a complete loss for words.

So, he just listens to the gossip. He listens to them talk about Dave's shocking family dinner admissions, and how Terezi and Karkat were so cute with their matching necklaces, and how Aradia seemed to be really flirting with Equius, who was obviously too dumb to notice. They talk about a pile of leaves on the front yard, and how Dave threw Sollux into it and how Gamzee seemed pretty happy, and how his pie was probably the most delicious thing ever (they promise Eridan they'll make it for him, pumpecan pie, just so he can taste it), and when the food comes it hardly stops them from talking even as they dig in.

He stares at his plate while they talk about Nepeta and Terezi roleplaying in the front yard, and John's funny little pilgrim hat that somehow wound up on everyone's head at sometime or another, even hanging off of Tavros's horn at one point. And Eridan feels so fuckin' miserable because he can't help but think, _I wish I'd been there._

"You're not eating," Fef scolds, and he picks at some mashed potatoes.

"Eridan, are you okay?" Jade asks.

"Why are you doing this?" he asks, and he hates how his voice sounds.

"We told you," Fef says, "We wanted to have Thanksgiving with you."

"No." He looks at her, and she looks shocked because he thinks he might be glaring. "Why are you doing _this_? Makin' me fuckin' miserable because I didn't want to see a bunch'a fuckin' assholes for some shitty human holiday that I didn't even wanna celebrate?"

Jade punches him on the shoulder, not lightly, and he winces. "Shut the fuck up, Eridan. You're a huge jerk who didn't even think that maybe _we_ wanted to celebrate it with _you_ , even if you don't like the idea of a homecooked meal with a bunch of friends who wanted to see you! So maybe you should be more fucking considerate, so next time we don't have to totally disregard your weird emo feelings about friends and family. Because that's what we are, whether you like it or not!"

"And you're not going to get rid of us by hiding in your dorm room and trying to push us away because you're depressed. We're not letting that happen." Fef looks so angry, the kind of anger he'd expected when he'd opened his door, and he realizes now he never wants to see her mad at him again. It's too fuckin' late for that, though, so he just looks down at his plate and chews his lip.

"...I'm sorry," he says, low in the back of his throat because otherwise his voice will crack, and he honestly means it. Just like every time he's said sorry since he came to this shitty fuckin' planet.

Jade puts a hand at the back of his neck, fingers scratching into his hair like he's a dog, and Fef's arm loops around his shoulder. He's not going to fuckin' cry, he's _not_ , that would be fuckin' lame -

"You can make it up to us by driving down to Rose and Kanaya's during winter break with us," Fef says, in that voice she only ever used when they were moirails, when she kept him from being too much of a fuckin' douchebag.

He nods despite the fact that his entire being is screaming at him, _no, no, don't go, you'll make everyone hate you even more._

Jade grabs his fork, takes a piece of turkey from her plate and holds it up to Eridan like he's just a wriggler. "Now, eat."

He eats off her fork and she grins with pretty blunt teeth that could never save her in a fight. Fef pets his shoulder, then digs into her remaining food with gusto, and he starts on his own.

It's pretty fuckin' good, when he gives it a chance.

"So," he says, chewing slowly. "Vris an' John are finally fuckin' out? Fuckin' took 'em long enough."

" _Seriously_. Like they thought that was a surprise to _anyone_!"


End file.
